Display apparatus



June 29, 1965 COPELAND ETAL 3,191,320

DISPLAY APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 18, 1962 Inventors:

BERNARD L.COPEL D SANFORD WALLA y W W AHV.

. kill-Iv June 29, 1965 B. L. COPELAND ETAL 3,191,320

DISPLAY APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2- Filed Oct. 18, 1962 T 23 37- 3s a 5| 2? I5 26 so 26 -5- VII Avg 2' flw Inventors:

BERNARD L.COPELAND SANFORD WALLACK y WW United States Patent 3,191,320 DISPLAY APPARATUS Bernard Lee Copeland, Waynesboro, Va., and Sanford Wallack, Chevy Chase, Md., assignors to Basic-Witz Furniture Industries, Inc., Waynesboro, Va.

Filed Oct. 18, 1962, Ser. No. 231,450 '1 Claim. (CI. 35-53) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in display apparatus, and in particular the invention concerns itself with an apparatus which may be conveniently and efiectively employed for a coordinated display of different varieties or species of mechandise. Although the use of the invention is not restricted to any particular merchandising environment, it is primarily intended for the display of furniture items, furniture suites, and the like.

In conventional practice furniture is usually displayed in show rooms, either by having several different furniture suites in the same room or by utilizing several individual rooms or sections of rooms, each appropriately decorated to match the particular furniture suite displayed therein.

3,191,320 Patented June 29, 1965 panels and specimens shown in plain form for simplicity of illustration;

Obviously, this not only involves occupancy of a considerable amount of valuable floor space, but it also necessitates numerous complete sets of furniture to be maintained in the display stock. In the absence of these facilities, catalogs are commonly used to illustrate various sets or species of furniture, but these obviously lack the important element of affording an actual furniture specimen to the senses of sight and touch.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the invention to eliminate the aforementioned disadvantages, this being attained by the provision of a display apparatus which includes a supporting frame carrying a table on which may be placed a catalog containing illustrations of different items or species of furniture, a set of picture panels removably mounted in the frame and illustrating the differthe respective picture panels, whereby to aiforda prospective purchaser a coordinated continuity which flows from thecatalog illustrations to the picture panels and to the actual specimens to enable the prospective purchaser to see an illustration of a particular catalog item in the environment of a furnished room, as well as to see and touch an actual specimen of the furniture item.

An important feature of the invention resides in its space saving characteristics and also in avoiding the necessity of maintaining a furniture stock on hand, since the specimens ,used in the apparatus need be only in the form of small, panel-like sections of the furniture items themselves. Another important feature of the invention resides in the structural arrangement of the apparatus which permits the various picture panels and furniture specimens to be quickly and easily changed.

Other advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity of construction and in its adaptability to economical manufacture. r

With the foregoing more important object and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference are used to designate like parts, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the display apparatus in accordance with the invention, showing the same in use;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary, exploded perspective view thereof, with the catalog removed and with the picture FIGURE 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 3-3 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary cross-sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 4-4 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary, enlarged elevational view showing the connection of the table brace to one of the frame side members.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the display apparatus in accordance with the invention is designated generally by the reference numeral 10 and embodies in its construction a vertically elongated frame 11 which, as a whole, may be mounted by nails or screws 12 on a wall so that it does not require any support from the floor. The frame 11 consists of first and second side members 13, 14 and a shorter, intermediate member 15, the members 13, 14, 15 being parallel and coplanar.

A forwardly projecting and slanting table or drop leaf 16 is supported by the lower portion of the frame 11, it being noted that the side members 13, 14 extend downwardly past the lower end of the intermediate member 15 and that the rear edge portion of the table 16 is provided with bores 17 to receive removable keeper pins 18 which extend through apertures 19 provided in the side members 13, 14 into the bores 17, whereby to connect the table to the side members. The front edge of the table 16 is provided with an upstanding ledge 20 and is supported in a bers 13, 14, this arrangement being similar to that of the pins 18. It will be apparent that by removing the pins 24, the table 16 may be dropped to a folded position, and

that by removing both the pins 18 and 24, the table may be entirely removed from the frame, if so desired.

- The opposing edges of the side member 13 and intermediate member 15 are provided with a pair of vertical grooves 26 which are open at the upper ends of these members, while the opposing edges of the members 14,

15 are similarly provided with a pair of grooves 27. A cross member 28, which constitutes a part of the frame 11, is formed at its ends with projecting tongues 29 which are slidably received in the grooves 26, 27 of the two side members 13,14, it being noted that the cross member 28 extends transversely of the frame and that the lower end of the intermediate member 15 terminates at the upper edge of the cross member. The grooves in the side memprevent the same from sliding downwardly in such grooves.

U Above the cross member 28, the frame accommodates a set of picture panels 30 and a set of corresponding, panel-like furniture specimens 31, the panels 39 being disposed between the frame members 13, 15 and provided at their side edges with projecting tongues 32 which are slidably received in the pair of grooves 26. The specimens 31 are disposed between the members 14, 15 and are similarly provided with tongues 33 which are slidably received in the pair of grooves 27.

A transverse top member 34, similar to the cross member 28, extends between the side members 13 14 above the panels'30 and specimens 31, the member 34 being provided at its ends with tongues 35 for slidable reception in the grooves of the side members. The upper end of 3 the intermediate member 15 terminates the top member 34 and the intermediate member is retained in place by a pair of pins or dowels 36 which project from the upper and lower, ends thereof and are removably received in bores'or apertures 37 formed in the cross member 28 and top member 34, as will be apparent. A top plate 38, inscribed with suitable advertising indicia, or the like, 39, is supported by the frame above the top member 34, the plate 38 being equipped at its side edges with tongues 40 for reception in the grooves of the side members 13, 14.

The table 16 is intended to receive thereon a suitable catalog 41, containing illustrations and descriptions of various species or types of furniture, the illustration of one such species being indicated at 42. This particular furniture species is illustrated in the environment of a furnished room on one of the picture panels 30, the identity of the particular species being coordinated by a suitable name or symbol 43, appearing both in the catalog and on the picture panel. The specimens 31 are juxtaposed to and in transverse alignment with the picture panels 30, and the particular specimen which is juxtaposed to the picture panel illustrating a particular furniture suite, for example, the one'which is identified in the catalog and on the picture panel by the symbol B, is an actual specimen of that particular furniture item, as for example, a drawer front which is made of a particular kind of wood, with a particular grain and color and with particular handles or drawer pulls, so that a prospective purchaser, indicated at 43 and sitting on a chair 44 at the table 16, may inspect the illustrations in the catalog 41, observe a particular furniture item or items in a furnished room environment on the correthe several picture panels and the respective specimens,

as will be clearly apparent.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the picture panels may consist of 'a suitable panel back 30' with a photograph 30" adhesively or otherwise secured thereto. While in the foregoing there has been described and shown the preferred embodiment'of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention'relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure and various modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. 1

What is claimed as new is:

An apparatus for coordinated display of merchandise, said apparatus comprising in combination, a vertically disposed supporting frame including first and second side members and an intermediate member therebetween, said side members and intermediate member being parallel and coplanar, a first pair of grooves provided in opposing edges of the first side member and of the intermediate member, a second pair of grooves provided in opposing edges of the intermediate member and of the second side member, said intermediate member being shorter than said side members and being disposed so that upper and lower end portions of the side members project respectively above and below the upper and lower ends of the intermediate member, a table-like panel having a rear edge portion extending between said connected to said side members in a plane below the lower end of said intermediate member, a cross member having its ends slidably received in the grooves of said side members below the lower end of said intermediate member, said cross member resting on and being supported by said rear edge portion of said table-like panel, means connecting the lower end of said intermediate member to said cross member, a plurality of picture panels disposed in a vertical row and having opposite side edges thereof slidably received in said first pair of grooves with the bottom edge of the lowermost panel resting on said cross member, said picture panels illustrating different species of merchandise, a plurality of panel-like .merchandise specimens disposed in a vertical row and having opposite side edges thereof slidably received in said second pair of grooves with the bottom edge of the lowermost specimen resting on said cross member, said merchandise specimens being transversely aligned with the respective picture panels and 'the identities of the merchandise species illustrated by the picture panels being represented by the respective merchandise specimens, the upper edges of the uppermost picture panel and of the uppermost merchandise specimen being horizontally aligned with the upper 'end'of said intermediate member, a transverse top member having its ends slidably received in the grooves of said side members and resting on said upper edges of the uppermost picture panel and of the uppermost merchandise specimen and on the upper end of saidintermediate member, means connecting the upper end of said intermediate member to said top member, said connecting means at the lower and upper ends of the intermediate member being separable from said cross member and top member respectively, and a top display panel having its opposite side edges slidably received in the grooves of said side members with the lower edge of said top display panel resting on said top member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ,EUGE'NE- CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner.

JEROME SCHNALL, Examiners. 

